'American Idol' Scott McCreery victim of home invasion robbery

[May 06, 2014]  (Reuters) — Country music singer and "American Idol" winner Scotty McCreery was among several people robbed at gunpoint by intruders in a home in Raleigh, North Carolina early on Monday, but no one was hurt, police said.

Three gunmen - two armed with pistols and one with a rifle - entered the dwelling near the North Carolina State University campus shortly before 2 a.m., took wallets, cash and electronic items then fled, police spokesman Jim Sughrue said.

McCreery, 20, a former grocery clerk who is reported to be a student at North Carolina State, was visiting the home at the time and was one of several people who was robbed, Sughrue said.

After the gunmen fled the residence, believed to be a rental apartment or condominium, someone from the home called police, who have yet to identify the perpetrators, Sughrue said. He added that there was no apparent connection between the robbers and the victims.

McCreery, the cherubic-faced baritone from Garner, North Carolina, near Raleigh, won the 10th season of Fox television's hit "American Idol" pop singing contest in May 2011. He went on to see his debut country album, "Clear as Day," open at the top of the Billboard charts in October of that year.

He became the first country singer to win the "Idol" title since Carrie Underwood in 1995.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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